A typical fiberizing apparatus in state of the art is described in European Patent Specification EP1409423, published Apr. 21, 2004. A typical spinning machine consists of 3 to 4 fiberizing rotating wheels, also known as the spinning wheels, or rotating wheels (a term used in this patent application), or rotors.
The mineral melt discharged from the melting furnace or similar device for heating up and melting raw materials used in mineral wool formation forms a nearly vertical melt stream as it is poured onto the spinning machine. The melt stream is directed towards the mantle surface of the first wheel where it partly adheres to the surface, is drawn in motion and forms a melt film. A part of the melt forms, with the aid of the centrifugal force, liquid ligaments solidify to the mineral wool fibers while the remaining quantity of the melt is thrown out as a cascade of drops against the mantle surface of the adjacent second wheel in the series. Again, a part of the melt adheres to the second wheel surface sufficiently to be formed into fibers and the remainder is thrown onto the mantle surface of the third wheel of the spinner machine and so forth, until the last wheel where the remaining mass flow of the melt is assumed to be low enough to fiberize completely.
Binder may be applied on the formed mineral fibers, either during fiber formation or afterwards, in form of a droplet spray. The mineral fibers formed on the wheels of the spinning machine are transported away from the point of origin on the melt film, initially in the radial direction due to the centrifugal force. As the fibers enter the zone of the coaxial air flow generated by the spinning machine fan, i.e., the blow-in flow, they are drawn in a predominantly axial motion and transported to the collecting chamber where the primary layer of the mineral wool is formed.
None of patents searched showed any monitoring method or means.